Effects of vitamin B6 deficiency on liver, kidney, and adipose tissue enzymes associated with carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, and on glucose uptake by rat epididymal adipose tissue.

Adipose tissue and liver from vitamin B6-deficient rats have an increased lipogenic capacity. Whether this phenomenon is accompanied by changes in the activities of certain enzymes involved in the metabolism of carbohydrate and lipid, or by altered transport of glucose into adipocytes, has been studied. Five glycolytic enzymes (hexokinase, phosphoglucose isomerase, phosphofructokinase, aldolase, and pyruvate kinase), two pentose phosphate pathway enzymes (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase), malic enzyme, and ATP citrate lyase were measured in the epididymal adipose tissue, livers and kidneys of vitamin B6-deficient and control rats. Vitamin B6 deficiency did not significantly affect the glycolytic enzyme levels in the tissues studied, or the dehydrogenases measured in adipose tissue and kidneys. Liver glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and adipose tissue and liver malic enzyme were significantly lowered in deficient rats compared to ad libitum and pair-fed controls. Adipose tissue and liver ATP citrate lyase activities were also significantly decreased by vitamin B6 deficiency. In the presence of insulin, the uptake of glucose and 3-O-methyl glucose, a non-metabolizable sugar, by fat pads from deficient rats was greater than uptake by fat pads from control rats. These observations suggest that the increased glucose utilization by adipose tissue and liver of vitamin B6-deficient rats is not directly related to changes in the enzymes studied, but in the case of adipose tissue, may be explained, at least in part, by enhanced glucose uptake.